Pressure Over the Press, What Can We Do?

           Working at the university press always leads to the whirl of feelings. Every times I do something for the Chungdae Post, I have to be careful to avoid too many troubles. Even though it is the second time for me to write the editor's desk column, there is no doubt in saying that choosing this topic was a pain for me. It is a column to show opinions or thoughts; however, I also need to think about others including readers who keep their eyes on us.

           In Korean society, press is not always a useful or trustful entity. There are several reasons for this phenomenon. One reason is that some journalists or reporters write false and exaggerated articles while people believe in too easily. As it has been repeated for a long time, press in our society lost our faith in it for truth telling the truth. The press always needs to deliver the news without adding unnecessary information. However, we can say that it has lost its primary function in modern society.

           Another problem is that there are several factors such as politics, community and government that infringe on freedom of the press. It is necessary to prevent fabrication and instigation; though, too many restrictions stop the press from conveying the recent and the most important news. Then, the public turn their faces away from the newspapers that evade the main issue. "A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad," is a quote by Albert Camus who was a French Nobel Prize winning author and journalist. It indicates that the freedom of journalists is required in order to perform its function.

           The press, especially university newspapers and magazines, need to exert an unremitting effort in order to improve. Nevertheless, we also require great interests from our readers. I hope the readers of Chungnam National University are concerned about our magazines; thus, it will be possible to develop in a positive way.